Thursday, April 9, 2009

Fraternity barely heard is the starting point….

Mr Arun Maira has an interesting article in today’s ET which throws interesting questions also. What would be the liberal’s position in election at this point of time?

However, we must accept what it emerges like “…that they are taking the first steps towards a larger transformation of the country’s political culture and therefore deserve support. Which raises the question: since transformation by this route will be difficult and slow, how else can the Indian professional class influence the course of the country’s politics and development?”

Further if we want change lets be “Ideally, those who wish to influence change must participate transparently within the official system — as the ‘professionals’ standing for election in India are. In the 1960s, Minoo Masani appealed to Indian professionals to come forth and join the Swatantra Party. The party fizzled out by the 1980s. Not only because many professionals did not join it, but because its views about economics and society had limited appeal amongst Indian people.

Two questions about the role of the professionals in politics that were asked to the Swatantra Party’s leaders 50 years ago, remain valid even today. One, are professionals electable? And two, how inclusive is their vision for the country? To get elected, these professionals must convince voters that they understand and represent what the voters want. Very recently Chandrababu Naidu told an industry association that he lost the election in 2004 because he was seen to be too much influenced by professionals — international consultants and CEOs. And that, to get elected this time, he would keep his distance from them and stay much closer to the people.”

Lastly, I completely hate talking like this “….their voices will be barely heard in Parliament and state assemblies even if they get elected”. After all the change will only happens when the individual change.